I'm apartment hunting and have found a place but not signed the lease, is it too late to back out yet?

Question

I put down a holding fee which is non-refundable, but due to a clerical error on their part I was unable to move in on my desired date and have had to make all kinds of arrangements and incur extra costs for changing, cancelling, and making new reservations on a truck and equipment. Now, I'm actually having second thoughts on the place. To make matters worse, I actually did sign a lease, but it had to be changed and redrawn due to their clerical error, so I'd have to re-sign with the correct info. In addition, they still have my deposit check! Can I rightfully walk away from this deal and recoup my deposit check from them?

The place I found I was all set to move in to however, the resident manager never updated the fact I wanted to move in on the 30th and not the 1st. I signed a lease and dropped off my deposit and was in the middle of the walkthrough when the resident manager got word that they could not release the apartment to me because they were not and would not be done/ready until the 1st. Now I signed a lease that indicated my move-in for the 30th and will obviously have to sign a new one with the actual information. Is it too late to say forget it? I'm upset because my truck rental company charged me a $50 fee for cancelling my reservation on short notice and they do not have a truck available for the new date. Now I was able to get a truck reserved but with another company at almost twice the price because it's now a weekened move! I understand I put money down for them to take it off the market. They can have it! I just want to wash my hands of this and get my deposit check back. Can I?

Answer 1

ask a lawyer

Answer 2

You confer with the mgr of the property and show them the inconvenience they have caused you by choosing to reside at their property. Assert that the additional resigning will not occur until they reimburse you for ANY additional expenses incurred because of the property's actions or lack of action.
You have the upper hand.....do not resign because of the clerical error. They are coming unglued and under alot of stress because an agent erred. You will lose any deposit you have made because they took a rental off the market for you. Good luck,,,,,,Lease Agent Phoenix

Answer 3

Probably.

You need to see a lawyer. The statute of frauds says that a contract for transferring an interest in realty must be written to be enforceable. Seems to me that a lease is an interest in realty, but I'm not a lawyer.

Speaking of which, you probably can get an opinion from a lawyer for a fraction of a month's rent. He might even make a phone call to the leasing company for you. It's easy to *claim* you have a lawyer, but companies behave differently when they *know* you have a lawyer.

Answer 4

State law issue, which you don't specify (they never do on here!), but doubtful. A minor clerical error will generally not void the contract. Sounds like buyer's remorse, which isn't the landlord's problem.

You could ask them to cover your increased moving expenses, which they may do, but I would wager aren't much - making, changing, cancelling a truck reservation with UHaul or the like is generally all FREE!

Answer 5

Im pretty sure you can call your bank and cancel the check and the bank will probably charge a stop-check fee.Keep all receipts and notes and make sure you date your comments in case there are ever any problems about it , I would for instance save a copy of your Yahoo question about it.

Answer 6

You will have to have a lawyer in that state look at the paperwork. While you may not be able to use a "scrivener's error" to get out of a lease, you may be able to sue them for the added costs to you, which might encourage them to allow you out of it.